In late August, five Georgia Tech students attended the Ana G. Mendez University System Research Symposium (AGMUS) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they shared presentations with more than 275 of their peers.

This past summer, the Georgia Tech students all participated in the 10-week SURE Summer Undergraduate Research Experience in Engineering/Sciences program, which aims to increase the number of well qualified minority students who earn graduate degrees in STEM.

During the academic year, they are all members of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (LSAMP), a National Science Foundation-funded initiative that seeks to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who complete bachelor and graduate degrees in STEM.

At the AGMUS conference, the group’s oral and poster presentations were seen by hundreds of other students, who came from both the University of Puerto Rico system and national institutions.

At the end of the evening, three Georgia Tech attendees won awards and cash prizes.

They are:

  • Valencia Watson (biomedical engineering major from Professor Manu Platt’s lab) won best oral presentation in biological sciences. Her project was titled “Using fluorescence to analyze the role of cysteine proteases in breast cancer cells.”
  • Jamie Clark (civil engineering major from Professor Kimberly Kurtis’ lab) won best poster presentation in engineering. Her project was titled “Comprehensive study of the age properties and sustainability of limestone cement with SCM properties.”
  • Shantonio Birch (mechanical engineering major from Professor Seth Marder’s lab) won best oral presentation award in chemistry. His project was titled “Dye synthesis for second harmonic generation imaging of membrane potential.”

LSAMP provides peer mentoring and professional development workshops, and it pairs students with undergraduate research opportunities, provides funding to attend research conferences, and offers other financial support.

Applications for the SURE Summer 2015 program will be available online in November.